Thursday, April 24, 2014

Cabot introduced a new element to this story by having Suze's best friend from New York, Gina, come visit her for a week since it was her Spring break. I have to admit that I was excited for this and I enjoyed a lot of the shenanigans that ensued between the two long-time friends, but I hated the cliches that Gina brought with her. It seems that Cabot is drawn towards stereotyping and cliches. I mean, suddenly every single male in the book aside from the ones too young to understand the female anatomy was tripping over themselves to impress the Amazon-look-alike goddess? I'm over it. Was not a fan of that.

I did, however, think that the RLS Angels plight was interesting. At first, I really hated them. Four rich kids that model, captain athletics teams, and win elections because they've got the looks, the muscles, the money, and the connections to get everything they want. They die in the middle of the night because they're driven off of a highway at a sharp turn, go over the guardrail, and plummet hundreds of feet to their death. Not a nice way to go out, if you ask me. They're bent on revenge because they're determined that their deaths were the product of a deliberate murder, not a car accident, and they're bound to extract revenge on the boy who they think prematurely ended their lives: Michael Meducci. Michael flew under Suze's radar at school as a shy and awkward nerd, but he's suddenly thrust into the spotlight because a month after his sister was put into a coma, he was involved in a car accident that took the lives of four of the areas most high-profile rich kids. But something's off about Michael, and it's up to Suze to figure out what that is.

The mystery evolving around this case was superb, much stronger than the one that I struggled with in book two. I have to say that the perpetrator outted themself after directly threatening the lives of those close to Suze. Not a smart thing to do when girl's got some serious scheming and fighting skills, you know? There was a lot of unraveling of lies and even a few moments that had my heart stuck in my throat as I tried to flip the pages at a rapid speed. And though I hate people like the RLS Angels and am not a fan of some of their methods, I can understand where their rage came from and they earned some brownie points from me for stepping aside and attempting to allow Suze to do what she needed to do. With that in mind, Suze made some not-so-wise decisions in this one that had me cringing, but she learns a lot from her mistakes and had me praising the fact that it's not easy to kill a mediator.

And then there's Jesse...How can I not talk about Jesse? Some serious plot development occurred in this book. No declarations of feelings and no intimacy of any sort, but something so miniscule occurred that made my heart burst in my chest because this is Jesse and Suze and things are never easy with them. I mean ah! My inner romantic is so happy and anxious for book four right now. Book two was definitely a small bump in the road and we're back and better than ever with book three!

Now, if you excuse me, I've got some serious reading to do for book four!